Leave Britney Alone!

Since we've recently gotten onto the topic of what defines a media fan, I found it only appropriate to write my next blogging adventure on who other than YouTube's infamous, Chris Crocker. If this name does not sound familiar to you, Chris Crocker's video on YouTube has been viewed by almost 5 million people. Why so popular you ask? Well, Chris Crocker's video happens to be an emotional confession/defensive rant to try and get people to "Leave Britney alone!!!" In class today we discussed that being a fan of some sort of media is a part of expressing who we are; that it's a part of our identity. Chris Crocker is a great example of this way in which media fans are sometimes viewed. He lives, breathes, and even cries over the traumatic downfall of his biggest idol. We also questioned whether or not their are varying degrees of fandom. Can being a fan of media range from simply enjoying that media all the way to the point of obsessing ove it? Watching Chris Crocker's video made me realize that yes, there are different degress of fandom. Some people are not fans of Britney Spears, others might be a fan of a few of her songs, while some fans can say they've attended one of her concerts, but Chris Crocker is on a different spectrum. I wonder what Jenkins would write about a fan like Chris Crocker?

Over Worked American Idol?

I was listing to 103.7 this morning because my radio kept messing up when I tried to listen to V100.7 but anyway they were talking about a few celebrities. One of the celebrities they talked about was Kanye West and his girlfriend breaking up after six years of being in a relationship and 1 and a half years of engagement. I'm still trying to figure out who cares that he and his girlfriend aren't together anymore. Maybe a "gold digger" LOL. That's really is not what caught my attention they said that Jordin Sparks might be losing her recording contract. They said this just to keep the listeners tuned in because when they came back from the advertisements they told the "real" story. They said she had to cancel the tour that she would be on with Alicia Keys due to the fact that her vocal cords are damaged. I think her vocal cords are damaged because they were overworked and I know I'm not a doctor but if I were her vocal cords I would be tired too. As soon as she won the next day after she was performing on every channel I turned to. Maybe if they had given her a break between performances she would be alright. This should teach the record label not to overwork their people because now not only is Jordin going to miss out on a lot of cash they are too.

Is the Age of the Blog Done? (Already?)

On the heels of our discussion about blogs, and their place in the new world of "web 2.0" (I still have a problem with that term) I thought this video related quite well. This is from a show called "Attack of the Show" on G4. It's hard to define the show, but it's a daily hour long live TV show for "geeks", hosted by Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn. If you think you fit that montra check it out at 6pm Monday-Friday.

This segment is a one-on-one interview (called "The Loop") with Noah Robischon, Managing Editor of Gawker Media. Gawker, and its affiliate blogs, are some of the highest trafficked blogs on the net and have been for a while. They span everything from Media and Pop Culture (Gawker.com), to sports (Deadspin.com), to technology and gadgets (Gizmodo.com), and more.

Last monday, Gawker Media sold 3 of it's blogs: Idolator (music blog), Gridskipper (travel blog), and Wonkette (political gossip). The reason given was that Gawker Media felt that, "someone else will have better luck selling the advertising than we did." This has sparked a debate in the blogging community as to weather the age of ad driven blogs and professional bloggers is on the way out (it's been estimated that Gawker Media has been pulling in over $1 Million a year).

Check out what Robischon has to say and decide for yourself.




P.S. if you want to check out all of the Gawker Blogs...

Gawker (Media and Pop Culture)
Deadspin (Sports)
Defamer (Celebrity Gossip)
Fleshbot (Adult Content blog...yes that means porn)
Lifehacker (everyday tips and tricks)
Gizmodod (Tech and Gadgets)
Consumerist (A Consumer Reports blog)
Kotaku (Gaming)

(Update 4/21/08 18:59)

Forgot two of the Gawker Media Blogs:

io9 (Sci-Fi)
Jalopnik (Cars and Automobiles)

(Update 4/21/08 22:38)

It has been brought to my attention that their are two more Gawker Media Blogs I wasn't even aware of:

Jezebel (A "Women's Movement" style blog. Not sure if feminist is the right word, but maybe.)
Valleywag (Silicon Valley gossip)

Milwaukee's daily newspaper and other media

I read 2 sections of the Sunday Journal, Crossroads and the comics. This Sunday's content , once again, leaves a lot to be desired. Let me start with the comics. My favorite strip is "Get Fuzzy" (now there's a cat I can appreciate) so I'll leave that one alone. Most of the strips I'll read unless they're too copy intensive. One, in this Sundays selection, I must take issue with. It seems to be perpetuating the "consumption is good" myth. "Between Friends" seems to be saying shopping with your child is quality time. Now, I understand they're comics but come on, can't we work a more positive message in to the punch line? Then we go to "High and Lois." This strip is insinuating organic food has to taste bad. Who's writing this stuff Cargill? Monsanto?
O.K. moving on to "Crossroads", "Dear Earth" is the headline "How Can We Help You?" the sub-head. Well, here's an idea stop printing more ads than news content in this newspaper, anyway the article continues with "As Earth Day approaches eight leaders concerned about environmental policy...blah, blah, blah" Lets take a look at some of these leaders. One is president of Wisconsin Public Power. I wonder where his concern lies. Another is Community Relations manager for Veolia Water, once again, their concern? I was listening to Alternative Radio 2 Sundays ago the title was "The Corporate Takeover of Water." The speakers outlined ways in which this was taking place and Veolia was one of the corporations mentioned along with Bechtel. I suspect Veolia's motives and to see this employee of theirs as one of the contributors to this article cast the article in a new light for me. PR in the form of news. Hey, didn't we cover that?
A last item from this section relates to the blog posted last week about crime coverage in the media. A letter was written to the editor of the Journal entitled "Double standard in media coverage of homocides" and seems to agree with the position staked out by the blog's author.
Finally, a last media note, "Alternative Radio." If you're not tuning in you should be. Last night's show featured Dahr Jamail in a presentation entitled "Iraq: Beyond the Green Zone" and gave views of the war unfiltered by government or main stream media constraints. The speaker called NPR "National Pentagon Radio."
Good info is being put out from this weekly show.

Craigslist

Craigslist has quickly become one of the most popular web sites for apartment rentals, trade services, pets, buying anything, etc...almost everyone I know is familiar with Craigslist. While most people think that this site is mostly harmless, it has recently been reprimanded for people using this site for prostitution and sex trafficing. The site also has links to pages like "Missed Connections" and "Rants and Raves," where the content has a tendency to become rather explicit.

The suspects in the prostitution case were, to my knowledge, caught rather easily. This leaves me wondering why people are so open with personal information on Craigslist and similar sites. I have noticed that some posts on Craigslist include everything from a full name, to phone numbers, to email addresses and actual street addresses...it seems like an open invitation for trouble.

This also ties into the "feed the machine" theory. While I do not think that censoring ourselves on the internet is a good idea, I do believe that, as the only advocate for yourself, you have to protect your privacy. There will inevitably be people who take advantage of other people, but I do think that with a little thought the amount of identity theft, crime, etc. could be reduced.

By the way, you should all read the "Missed Connections" for Milwaukee. They can be really funny!

I can make my own podcast!

With all the talk about personal broadcasting on the internet, I decided to look up and see really what podcasts are all about. The first time I heard about a podcast, it was when I got my first iPod years ago. To me it was just some advanced feature that I wasn't going to take the time to figure out. And why would I? When I bought my first iPod, I was probably in 9th grade, almost 9 years ago. At that time, they're weren't really any "Lonely Girl" videos out, or at least they weren't as widely broadcasted as they are now. I never really knew about podcasts until I had heard from a person that they create their own, and that interested me so I did a little search on msn.com to see how that works and how popular it's become without my knowing. After reading specifically this article titled Create Your Own Podcast I realized that there are more options than just recording from a microphone on your computer. Some mp3 players now allow recording, so you could create a podcast then upload and edit it later on your computer before broadcasting it. This website seems helpful for beginners-it describes the types of microphones to use, the easiest software to use to record and edit, and how to create the correct audio file format so that it can be broadcasted and listened by anyone. It then gives websites to download other podcasts to give you inspiration for your own creations, and lastly explains how to finally publish it. I was impressed to find such a detailed yet simple article to help people produce media of their own. I don't think I could ever create a podcast, but I suppose it's nice to know that if I suddenly got the itch to broadcast my criticisms or speak my mind about any and everything, it wouldn't be too difficult.

The growth of iTunes

Is it just me or does it seem like iTunes has a new version come out every week? Every time I shut down my computer and re-boot iTunes it seems like I need to update. With that said, it might not actually be such a bad thing. iTunes has grown incredibly over the past few years. The iTunes store connects to the Internet to allow users to purchase and download digital music, music videos, television shows, iPod games, audiobooks, podcasts, movies, and just recently added movie rentals and ringtones. What more could they possibly add? I decided to test out the movie rental feature and to my surprise it worked quite well. I purchased "No Country For Old Men" for $3.99 and it took about 15 minutes to download. iTunes then gives you a 24 hour window in which you can view the movie on your computer. The movie was pretty good but had an unusual ending, which I won't spoil for anyone who has not seen it. I wanted to know what all the fuss was about after the film virtually swept the Academy Awards this year. Overall, a good purchase. Anyway, I found the iTunes movie rental feature to be pretty cool and easy to use. Although they don't have a huge selection of movies yet, I assume they are working on building the library up as large as they possibly can. What else is nice about the rental feature is you can watch trailers and read reviews all on the same page before you decide to rent the movie. I thought this was helpful because out of the five or so reviews I read for "No Country..." they were all raving about the movie. It seems that the iTunes interface keeps on improving and I am certainly excited to see what other features will be released in the near future.

Over logging

I read Jeff’s blog and decided that I would also write about South Park. First off, I think the show is great. It pushes the boundaries and delivers perfectly with its pop culture parodies and scatological humor. It always challenges current events and usually exhibits how ridiculous things are. Tying along in with web 2.0 and how much the internet is a driving force in our lives, South Park has created the episode “Over Logging.” The plot goes that one day the citizens of South Park wake up and find the internet is gone. When Randy (Stan’s Dad) hears there may still be some internet out in California, he packs up his family and heads west. The story seems to be a parody on “The Grapes of Wrath” and Silicon Valley, which adds a lot of humor to the situation. Overall the episode depicts internet users pretty accurate in the sense that it’s hard for people to live without it these days. Here's the episode to watch.

http://southparkseason12.blogspot.com/

Youtube Celebrities

Hahahah well after class today, I knew exactly what I was gonna write my blog about. I think it was last week's episode of South Park that had the character "Butters" get famous by singing a song. The scene takes place at an internet fame money collecting site. Once again, my embed video thing is screwed up... so here is a link to the Youtube. It's funny... the clips of the people were added in by the editor of video. Thinking about this episode, it's funny to see how the characters act like the internet owes them something. Hahah as if we owe them money. They all get into a fight over "who has the most views." I guess this kinda relates to class when we talked about the internet and the fame that generates from it. I don't think anyone in the videos is a "pro." They are just ordinary people (and panda).

I love South Park for the fact that the content is pretty out there and in your face. Stuff on this show is like X rated and banned from network television. It's great to see that the creators could really care less...

www.cyworld.com

After we talked about personal blogs in class, I just thought to bring up a Korea-based 'My Space' kind of thing to you guys. It's called "Cyworld," and it is probably the widest used personal blog in Korea. It's just like "My space" or "Facebook" with Asian features such as more icons and cute things?(I would say)

"Cyworld" didn't become popular when it first came out in Korea because it was new style of web that people weren’t familiar to. Nowadays, there are millions of Korean people who communicate through this website and it certainly became extremely popular. After they became such a hit, they decide to spread “Cyworld” abroad. America was a definitely targeted market, and there are other Asian countries such as, China, Japan, and Taiwan. In fact, in Asian countries, it already became a big hit because we have some similar cultures in some ways.

However, when I first heard that “Cyworld” is targeting U.S web users, I was a little worried because I didn't know how they are going to commercialize, and the culture difference as well. So, I didn’t know if it would mainstream America. But I think “Cyworld” has enough features and interesting things to mainstream America. Since it is Asian based website, features and some styles might be unfamiliar to you. “Cyworld” also gives you strong policies for people’s privacy that many other websites do not provide. There are certain restrictions that you can create for your own. Maybe you might like this website better than “My Space” or “Facebook” or maybe not. Check it out!



This is one of the Cyworld commercials, even though you probably wouldn't understand this because it is in Korean, but it still gives you a sense of Cyworld's popularity. The message of the commericial is "Anyone can network and communicate through Cyworld"

BUCKS

I'm not too sure how many of you this blog will pertain to, but it interests me, and I'm sure it also interests fans of the Milwaukee Bucks. Today the Bucks fired their head coach Larry Krystkowiak after about 1.5 years of service to the Bucks organization. To Bucks fans of all walks, this should come as no surprise given the Bucks abysmal 26-56 record this year. Krystkowiak was originally hired as head coach on March 15, 2007 and won only 31 of out 100 games over his tenure.

With that being said, I am incredibly happy with the strides that Herb Kohl, the Bucks owner, is taking in trying to make the team a contender again in the Eastern Conference. Less than one month ago, the Bucks fired General Manager Larry Harris who was known for making some questionable personel moves in the 4 years that he was here. Just last week, the Bucks hired a new GM in John Hammond who had worked previously for the Detroit Pistons. This was a great move by the Bucks because Hammond was a key man in the Pistons winning it all in 2004.

Now all the Bucks need to do is find a head coach who is ready and willing to put 100% in turning this abysmal team around. I also think whoever they hire as head coach should be someone who is outside of the organiazation all together, just like John Hammond was. Finding someone outside of the organization allows fresh perspective to be brought in. That leads to new ideas, and ultimately a better performing team.

It is also vital who they choose to let go, and bring in, from a player standpoint. I could get into who I think should stay and who should go and what reasons I have, but I'll save that conversation for a different time and a different day. For now, it's great to finally have the season over with so there is no shame and dissapointment for this Bucks fan. Later.

Too Skinny...

Many people blame the media, rightfully, for creating an unattainable image of what beauty is for women. The typical image of beauty that women constantly see are one of a very thin women. WE get this idea that thin is beautifuland being beautiful is being thin. In reality, only about 10% of all women can even naturally and healthily reach this image of thinness.
During the late 70's and throughout the 80's this image of heroine sheik ,where models would look deathly and just skin and bones, was very popular is the fashion world. For me I never really go that type of beauty and do not find that attractive, but because of cultural norms and an culture that is obsessed with weight loss and beauty this images of very thin women is not healthy.
However, in France they are taking steps towards trying to change that. This new bill would make it illegal for anyone to publicly promote extreme thinness. This would mean that magazines, TV, movies, newspapers, websites, etc. would not be able to promote people who are too thin. If this is passed and you are found guilty of promoting this type of image judges will have the power to imprison or fine offenders up to $47,000. Authorities can also sanction those individuals responsible to magazine photos portraying "excessive thinness."

This is a small step, but a right step towards a healthier image what beauty is and how people view women and themselves.

im on ur computer, drinkin a beer n' writin a blog

  I think I've completed my blogging requirement for the class already, but after our class discussion on blogging Tuesday I felt that I needed to delve into the sordid underbelly of the feline literary movement, i.e. cat blogging, and share my findings.  First off, I rescued and successfully nursed a stray kitten back to health and my apartment contains an assortment of lovingly knit afghans so perhaps I am one of those 'cat ladies' who people usually try to avoid eye contact with. But I've never considered expressing my feeling via a blog using the pseudonym of my beloved with various cutesy misspellings and harrowing tales of vacuum cleaners ... until now.  First off, I was unaware of the vast network and diversity amongst cats' feeling and opinions.  Some are concerned with helping their feral brethren while others are more obsessed with describing how angry mommy is at them for shredding the toilet paper again.  As I scrolled through page after page of these future anthropological gems I realized that however futile they may seem to some, they are providing release and networking for vast numbers of people who may not have any other outlet to express themselves and I kinda felt like I needed to be a part of the kitsch.  Mark my words, I will have a cat blog and it will be the campiest piece of camp to ever camp the internetz.  !Viva la revolution!

the riches

so i realize that i have posted on TV a LOT. well, i'm doing it again. The Riches is just a few episodes into its' second season, and it is ridiculously good. It airs on FX on Tuesdays at 9 o'clock.
The show basically is about a family of 'travelers', vagabonds who live in their Winnebago and never really settle down in one place. They came across a really sweet deal assuming the identity of a family who had died on the way to their new enormous house, and assumed that family's identities.
The appeal of the show is that it is funny, edgy, unpredictable, and pretty much just thoroughly awesome. The plot and arcs are stellar, and never does the show venture into any sort of common storyline. It stars Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver as the parents of this Gypsy clan, and both of them are really believable and well cast. The supporting actors are equally good.

My kid's a star...until I mess it up

So, I don't know what's gotten into people these days...but forcing your kid into the entertainment industry for your own self-indulgence has far-passed the line in "My Kid's a Star" on VH1. This reality series really shows how our society has changed into a completely commercially-driven society. People have become so materialistic and commercialized nowadays to the point where they'll openly-expose their children to the evils of the media that most parents try to shy their kids away from to protect them. In a particular episode of "My Kid's a Star" a certain mom, Rocky, does anything and everything she can to act as the typical stage-mom. The kids' challenge in this episode is to learn a choreographed dance and audition for a shoe commercial. Well, Rocky's daughter didn't win the challenge, so she decides to have a meltdown and act younger than her 9-year-old daughter, who acts unaffected by the loss. Not only does she cry, but she's so upset that she begins to trash talk other mother's on the show...which leads to her daughter thinking her behavior is alright, so she begins to do the same! Nice role model. In the confessional, Rocky has her biggest meltdown in her "My Boyfriend Is Out Of Town" shirt. How old are you again? The clip is long, but 5 min. 30 sec. into it is Rocky's first meltdown and 8 min. and 30 sec. into it is her best meltdown ever.

pandora

Sorry in advance if a similar subject was already posted on this blog; I can't remember if I read someone writing about Pandora on here or somewhere else. Anyway, for those still unfamiliar, it is a really cool online music player that allows the user to create 'stations' based on a certain song or artist that you look.

After inputting a song or artist that you like, Pandora Radio vows to find similar songs and artists, exposing you to a variety of new music in a similar style. Also cool is that it tells you briefly how the connection from was made. You can also ‘guide’ the radio by saying you do or don’t like a song.

I’ve never liked listening to music on conventional radio because the music is usually pretty bad and repetitive and the commercials, oh, the commercials...

Pandora is a much better way of finding new and interesting music, at least from my experience. It’s also more fun skimming through some Motown sounds new and old than studying for an exam today or tomorrow, yesa.

Too Many DVD Releases

I was thinking about buying the 80s sci-fi movie Blade Runner on DVD, but I'm having the worst time figuring out which version I'd like to get. Aside from the original theatrical version, there's a director's cut, an international version, the work-print version, and now the final cut.

Now, you'd think this would be an easy decision because there is a complete set available. The only problem is, this complete set is a $60 faux aluminum case complete with a vehicle replica, plastic unicorn toy, hulking DVD box set, and other movie paraphernalia. That's all fine and dandy, but I don't know if I like the movie enough to want a giant briefcase of things, let alone, all five cuts of the film. That's not to say that this isn't a very generous offering, but just imagine if every movie were packaged this way.

I've had the same problem when trying to buy the original Star Wars Trilogy on DVD. There are way too many releases and re-releases of that trilogy - and all I want are the original three films! I also bought Moulin Rouge and Strictly Ballroom a while back, and am now just realizing they had a box set. The constant re-releasing and bonus-featurizing is also a common trend with video games now too, but that's a whole other ballpark.

Why is buying a movie so much work nowadays? With directors and their never-ending quest to perfect their already perfect films, and the distribution companies' constant milking of films for all they're worth, I'm finding that I want to purchase movies less than ever before. With the rise of the Internet, everyone wants "complete," "definitive," "perfect," but I sometimes wonder if "simple" made us all happier. For me, the movies I fell in love with never needed new lines from the secret vault version or a super-imposed Hayden Christensen for better story continuity (the movie had fighting teddy bears for god's sake! There's no need for a ridicuous amount of accuracy here.) But if these things must be added, at least make buying the DVDs a simpler process.

Born to Rock

Let me just say that I have pretty much given up on MTV besides watching the occasional Hills episode or leaving on an episode or two of America's Next Top Model. Then I heard about this show Rock the Cradle that features the children of famous rock stars from the past. And of course, they want to be rock stars too. So I decided to watch an episode.

First of all, here are who the contestants are:

Lucy Walsh- Daughter of Joe Walsh of the Eagles

Lil B. Sure- son of r&b singer Al B. Sure

Jesse Blaze Snider- son of Dee Snider

Jesse Money- daughter of Eddie Money

Crosby Loggins- son of Kenny Loggins

Chloe Lattanzi- daughter of Olivia Newton-John

Lara Johnston- daughter of Doobey Brother's Tom Johnston

Landon Brown- son of r&b singer Bobby Brown

A'Keiba Burrell- daughter of MC Hammer

So here are the problems I have with the show: 

1.  The judges. They are so biased and all over the place, and they don't even try to hide it. In the premiere episode Lucy Walsh sang "Heart of the Matter"- good song, but her? No thanks! Yet the judges LOVED her. All I thought was Did you hear her voice? Not amazing. Could it be that her dad is the most famous of the group? Then there was Jesse Blaze Snider who is obviously a born entertainer, who can sing, has stage presence, and even did a back flip in the air after his performance. And the judges did NOT give him the credit he deserved.
   
2. Lame version of American Idol. There just isn't enough hype for what one of the judges called "probably the greatest show on MTV ever". On the bright side, it is people's choice so the judges scores don't matter as much.
   
3. Some of these kids really want it, some of them just want the fame. The judges can't tell the difference.

But I'm not going to deny that the show could get addicting, just like American Idol did for audiences. The only difference is a lot of these kids already have everything.

Here's the Lucy Walsh performance, you can decide whether you agree with me about her singing or not. But poor girl, her dad doesn't condone her being on the show and wouldn't come and support her :(

A good book(s)

I went to the library the other day. Books were over due. Some I finished. Some not. They'd been renewed to the hilt though so they had to go. It was hard. I hate giving up a good book before spending the time with it it deserves. I usually overload myself though. Perusing the non-fiction shelves many titles pique my curiosity. A cursory scan of the inside jacket summary, a glance at the back cover reviews and I'm hooked. Stories in the news are short reviews at best. If the subject intrigues me a book offers a more in depth look and to really be informed you have to go deeper. I returned four books and left with three new loans. Added to the pile of 5 or 6 waiting their turn on my living room floor and the readings for this and two other media courses, well, I have lots of text to absorb. My current list includes; Jihad vs McWorld, We're All Journalists Now, the transformation of the press and reshaping of the law in the internet age, Book of the Hopi, In Defence of America, the fight for civil liberties in the age of terror, What Good is Journalism, how reporters and editors are saving america's way of life, Storm World hurricanes, politics and the battle over global warming, The Wealth of Networks, how social production transforms markets and freedom, Encore, finding work that matters in the second half of life, Dumbing Down, the strip mining of american culture and finally Waiting for the Barbarians, a novel I just haven't gotten to yet.
Now, my library gives three week loans with a three week renewal available ... Whoa, I gotta go! I have some reading to do. No time for American Idol. Geez I barely have time to shave.

By the way, good article in the "Crossroads" section of Sunday's Journal. "Foreign policy shouldn't be based on U.S.-centric coverage," is the title. Two authors, Claudia Rossett and David Marash discuss media and unfulfilled potential in international coverage. Both will be speaking at the Pabst Theater Thursday from 4 to 6 pm. The subject "Election 2008: Foreign policy and the media." Students with ID get in free.

Modern dating shows

I don't know if it's just me, but isn't pretty much every reality dating show getting to be too much to handle? It's not like dating shows back in the day, like the Newlywed Game....now we have got shows like Tila Tequila and Brett Michaels trying to win true love. How do these people even fall in love with someone like them? I'm sorry, but you're on a show trying to win the heart of someone who's getting on 20 different people at the same time. This is no way to find true love, by trying to capture the heart of someone who clearly is not too into you. I've always found these kinds of shows to be pretty repulsive actually. It's just not my thing I guess, you know...going out of my way to try and win that "key" or "rose every episode, but have the person in return making out and sometimes getting too friendly with my competition. If these D-list celebrities think that having their own reality show will find them their true love, they are out of their minds. Most of the time these contestant go into these shows acting like crazy obsessed idiots. If I were famous, I would definetly not want to have a reality show where contestants try out to come onto my show in hopes to by "the one". It's creepy. Half of these people probably MySpace stalked Tila Tequila before even coming onto the show. And to think that she's famous for pretty much close to nothing is sad.